ENCOUNTERS WITH ANDRE'

This is how I met Andre'. I found him one day, lying on the sand and gazing at the stars and the moon. His eyes carried a satisfied look, but his face and body bore the scars of extreme suffering. I myself was on the brink of despair. For many a day I had drawn designs on the sand and now I was exhausted of illusions. I was hungry and thirsty.

He did not notice me until I spoke to him -

"Andre', why is it that you lie here? Though you suffer you seem satisfied ".

"Dear friend, you cannot understand unless you know fervour. Do you know fervour? Come I shall teach you fervour".

"But Andre' by denying yourself , aren't you depriving yourself of attaining that land beyond this desert. My guide says it is a land that knows no end."

" Dear friend that land only signifies an end. It marks the end of a quest. What would life be without a quest? Before long you will be back wading your way through this desert and back into those walls that held you. But dear friend, I shall lie here in an endless quest and I shall witness your endless to and fro motions."

I was confused, as he returned to his trance again. But I lay down beside him on the sand and tried to see what was it that charmed him so.